Nexus S

The Nexus S was the second "Nexus" device to come out of Google — after the Nexus One — in partnership with an Android manufacturer, in this case Samsung. Released in December 2010, the Nexus S was clearly cut from the same cloth as the original Samsung Galaxy S, though like the Nexus One it had specific Google flair. The Nexus S brought considerable spec improvements, including 16GB of internal storage, a 4-inch 480 x 800 display, 5MP camera, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and 512MB of RAM. All packed in a curvy black body that was well received from a design standpoint.

The Nexus S was used as the launch device for Android 2.3 Gingerbread, bringing a redesigned interface with a new green and black color scheme, new keyboard, system-wide copy & paste refinements, as well as performance improvements. It also introduced native support for SIP/VOIP calls and NFC.

The Nexus S came in two U.S. variants, one for AT&T (i9020A) and one for T-Mobile (i9020T), each being identical aside from radio bands supported for those two networks. There was also an i9023 model for global markets, and the m200 for Korea. In early 2012, the Nexus S was released on Sprint as the Nexus S 4G (SPH-D720), on account of its WiMax radio that offered higher data speeds. The GSM models supported up to HSPA+ 21 data speeds.

Though there have been many Nexus devices since the launch of the Nexus S, it will most definitely go down in history as an important building block of the Android platform and Nexus program as a whole.

All Nexus S

Wind customers with a Samsung Nexus S should get ready for the big OTA to Ice Cream Sandwich, as it appears to be rolling out now. AC reader Vic Singh tweeted in to let us know that his Nexus S was updating, and we knew that you guys would want to know. You'll need to be stock, with the stock...

A few days ago we saw the very first factory images for the Nexus S posted by Google. Previously you had to use a community-supplied image to go all the way back to 2.3.4 and then manually flash the updates. It was a pain, and we're glad that Google and the hardware vendors got it all worked out....

Google has released the official Android 4.0.4 factory images for the international (GSM) version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the T-Mobile and European unlocked Nexus S. These are files that allow you to return your Nexus to stock, no matter how badly your system software gets screwed up. With...

Android 4.0.4 has started rolling out on Wifi-only Motorola Xoom tablets, as well as GSM Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus phones, Google has confirmed. The new version of Android, which has been described as an "incremental update" by Google engineer Jean-Baptiste Queru, is said to include "stability...

Many GSM Samsung Nexus S owners have been patiently waiting to see when Google would push the next update to their devices, and the answer is right now. Android 4.0.4 is currently rolling out to users showing a build of IMM76D. You have a few options when it comes to installing it of course. If...

Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich was briefly pushed to the Nexus S last December, before being pulled due to battery life issues on some handsets. Now reports suggest that the official resumption of over-the-air updates to ICS may be just a few weeks away, and that the Nexus S 4G will finally see...

Previously only available to Sprint Nexus S 4G owners, Google's NFC-based payment app, Google Wallet, has just been updated to add support for the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S on AT&T. So if you're a Nexus owner on AT&T, you can hit the Android Market and find out what all the fuss is about....

Just weeks after we saw our first "unofficial" release of a touch version of the popular ClockworkMod custom recovery, developer Koush has put forth a beta version of his own, available for download now.
For you new folks, a custom recovery is an indispensable way to back up your device as well...

We passed along the good news on Boxing Day about how Carphone Warehouse had slashed the price of the Nexus S to a few pence under £200. However they seemed to sell out of them almost immediately.
Well, good news. If you missed out last time, it's worth trying again because as the graphic here...

The UK sale wagon continues to roll, with the Samsung Nexus S being offered up by Carphone Warehouse for a few pence under £200 SIM free.
If you're anxious to get some pure Ice Cream Sandwich goodness but can't stretch to a Galaxy Nexus, at this price point the Nexus S is a bonafide bargain. Hit...

Because of the Samsung Nexus S' VGA front camera, face unlock was left out of the official and AOSP builds of last year's reference phone. You know where this is going -- the files have been yanked out of the Galaxy Nexus and face unlock is working in all it's gimmicky goodness. It's even...

By now you've heard a lot of scuttlebutt about the Ice Cream Sandwich battery bug, and how it's affected the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus. Or not. Either way, we've heard it, too. Since we happen to have several of each phones possibly affected, I decided to do a little independent research of...

Hot on the heels of Flash Player 11, Adobe have today updated AIR to include support for devices running Ice Cream Sandwich. More good news for those of you with a shiny new Galaxy Nexus but even more so now that we're starting to see ICS roll out to other devices. Hit up the source link for the...

Update: Cincinatti Bell's given us an official update on the update, saying that we might not see things push this week, but instead through January. Also, as is the case with Nexus phones, expect the update from Google itself. Here's the full statement:
Cincinnati Bell’s Samsung Nexus S is...

Samsung Nexus S 4G hacker Beezy has done it again, this time porting the Android 4.0.3 OTA update for T-Mobile phones to the Sprint 4G version. There's no Wimax of course, but for the most part everything is working well -- including GPU rendering that we all have been wanting. Hopefully the...

Googler Jean-Baptiste Queru has just announced the push of Android 4.0.3 to the Android Open Source Project tree. This build is for the Motorola Xoom (U.S. Versions), the Nexus S (all versions), and of course the mysid and yakju builds of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Yes, one set of sources and...

We've had unofficial builds of Ice Cream Sandwich on the Samsung Nexus S for a number of weeks now. But today Google announced that the GSM version of the Nexus S will see its Android 4.0 update push out over the next month, starting today. Not a bad turnaround. Now let's see some carrier-...

Researchers at N.C. State University have performed a study of eight Android phones (HTC's Legend, EVO 4G, and Wildfire S; Motorola's Droid and Droid X; Samsung's Epic 4G; and the Nexus One and Nexus S from Google) and found more potentially disturbing information. While the Nexus phones and OG...

You didn't think we would stop playing with the Ice Cream Sandwich AOSP ROM for the Nexus S so soon did you? Trust me when I tell you it's almost 100 percent, and well worth the time to flash and try it out. We've been having a go with it for a good while now, and decided to fire up the camera...

Here's why we love open-source software folks. With the release of the Ice Cream Sandwich trunk of the Android Open Source Project code came the ability to build it yourself instead of waiting for it to come from your phone's manufacturer or Google. We've seen several good beginnings, on phones...

Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by the Android Open Source Project
and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 2.5 Attribution License. AndroidCentral is an independent site
that is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.